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GIS Mapping Links Open Space and Water Resource Protection
Location:
Merrimack River Watershed, MA
Area of Focus:
Clean Water, Smart Growth
Local Contact
Robert O'Connor
Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
(617) 626-1170
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In the Merrimack River Watershed, a fast-growing area north of Boston, four localities are using Geographic Information System maps to help them identify and preserve open space lands where streams and productive aquifers are threatened by sprawling growth. The towns of Westford, Littleton, Chelmsford, and Boxborough, which share common aquifers for their drinking water, are working with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Trust for Public Land, and ERG to use GIS tools to preserve those lands critical to the future of their precious water resources. This approach promises to shape the direction of growth in order to preserve both drinking water and local quality of life.
Local Resource Planning
These GIS maps will help enhance local resource planning efforts, including comprehensive "Community Development Plans." These plans, part of a Commonwealth-wide effort known as the Community Preservation Initiative, help local officials balance economic progress with preserving the quality of life in their communities. The plans incorporate environmental planning issues, such as habitat and watershed protection, with economic development, housing, and transportation issues as they relate to the challenges of growth management. Massachusetts is providing $30,000 in services in partnership with local consultants to any interested locality to create Community Development Plan, and is encouraging all 351 municipalities in the Commonwealth to participate. So far, about 250 communities have signed up to prepare plans.
The GIS mapping project focuses on the four municipalities in the 51-square mile Stony Brook subwatershed of the Merrimack River, located along Route 495 about 25 miles northwest of Boston. This is one of the most rapidly growing areas of the Commonwealth. These communities range in size from 8,000 to 33,000 people, and all four share a rural, small-town character that is being threatened by rapid growth along major highway corridors. Top issues of concern for these towns include drinking water quality and quantity, rapid development (residential and commercial), increasing levels of impervious cover, and the protection of remaining open space lands.
ERG and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs developed detailed GIS maps for each of the towns that highlighted unprotected open space lands abutting surface waters, and overlayed high- and medium-yield aquifers, which are important current or potential drinking water sources. These GIS maps identify those lands that might best serve as buffer zones to protect water resources. The maps can be integrated with impervious surface and stormwater runoff data in these localities to help determine the ecological carrying capacity of these communities and this subwatershed area. This information can be used to identify the ability of the water resources to support various build-out scenarios, land preservation strategies, allowable land uses and densities, and other important smart growth approaches.
Using these tools, the Trust for Public Land is now helping the municipalities identify specific properties for conservation and create lasting open space buffer areas adjacent to key water resources. Funding for such land preservation can be pursued through the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act, which authorizes communities to approve a referendum allowing them to levy a community-wide property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent for the purpose of creating a local Community Preservation Fund. Those communities that create a Community Preservation Fund can get those resources matched dollar-for-dollar from the Commonwealth. Funds can be used to acquire and protect open space, preserve historic buildings and landscapes, and create and maintain affordable housing.
Updated Date: 08/03/2010
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